When an offensive lineman fumbles

Time to dust off the waders, political season is gearing up and that means one thing - we will, in very short order, be awash in spin and outright idiocy. Chief among these things are candidates announcing that they will shortly announce that they will become candidates. I mean...if you say that you are going to announce, haven't you just announced? Is it too much to ask for candidates to cut the double-speak long enough to simply say, "Yes, I'm running?"

Apparently so, because you need to have a big vacuous love-fest to actually announce a candidacy. So, while I have nothing against Jon Runyan and welcome him to the political fray, I'm afraid he may already be hip-deep in consultants that are going to have him spouting generic talking points for the next six months. I'm not a big fan of talking points. I'd much rather hear what someone actually thinks.

Because when you lean on talking points, you get things like this:

"How are qualified politicians running this country now?" he asked the crowd here in the ballroom of the Westin. "Whoever said you need to be a lifetime politician to be a congressman? I'm qualified because I care."

I heartily endorse the idea that we don't need to be professional politicians to be qualified to run for office. I honestly don't know of anyone who said such a thing...and I bet Jon Runyan doesn't, either. As far as the caring thing goes - well, my mom cares a whole lot, but I'd never vote for her to get into Congress (sorry, Mom, I love you, but I'm a realist, too).

The other thing to keep in mind is that it is probably not a wonderful idea to run down "career politicians" when you are being introduced by - wait for it - a career politician. Yes, Senator Phil Haines introduced Runyan. That's the Phil Haines who spent a couple of years as a Burlington County Freeholder before taking over as County Clerk until his term in the State Senate started...ten years ago.

The rest of Runyan's speech is guilt by association - McGreevey, Corzine, Pelosi. Then he uses probably the oldest line in the political book, "You can run, but you can't hide." Oddly, Adler is one of the more visible members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation, regularly being in the Philadelphia and South Jersey press because he tends to vote against the Democratic agenda about as often as he votes for it. He's even gotten a bit of attention from the national press for voting against the House health care bill.

In one of the more bizarre attacks, Phil Haines told the crowd, "We've seen him in Congress move over to the political right to cover a record of higher taxes and sky-rocketing debt. How can we rely on him to be an independent voice?" Well, gee, I would guess that voting against your own party kind of qualifies you to say you're an independent voice, doesn't it? If it doesn't, then what does?

I'm picking on Runyan, mostly because he's a big name and he's stumbling right out of the gate. At least he isn't giving the people of New Jersey the thoughtful and accurate discourse they deserve. I'm sure he won't be the last one I call out on this in the next few months. The only question, I suppose, is whether this year is a year in which vacuous words, as they so often do, outweigh any other consideration.